If everyone shuts off their lights for 1hr, aren't we asking for trouble?

Question

I love the idea, but can the power grid handle the sudden surge of an entire world turning itself back on within a +/- 5 minute timeframe? Just curious, what everyone thinks...

Answer 1

If we turned off our lights an hour it would save energy.

Answer 2

People lived a very long time with out electricity.  Silly little people.  Have you ever been through a major hurricane.  I have. No electric for days.  It was the best memories I have of my father.  I say blow the F**ck**g c**p out of the power grid if we can.  Just a few more days of rest for our ecosystem as they rebuild instead of grow.

Answer 3

Everyone is doing it at 8pm their OWN time..so the world will not be in darkness all at once, the hour will actually be several hours.  It is really no different than the regular use of lights..it is always night in some part of the world.

Answer 4

Most people don't understand how power plants work.

i  was waiting for the massive blackout.

when the load goes down the power companies start dropping plants

those plants cut the fuel feed to there boilers to keep them from causing tube damage.

in most cases it takes 15 to 30 mins to reheat the boilers to bring the plant back on line.

nuclear plants like they use in France take 2 to 3 hours to bring back on line.

i am hopeing the whole US goes down and have my backup generator ready.

i will get  the biggest laugh if it does.

plus the treehuggers will look SOOOOO stuiped.

Answer 5

Look at it this way How many people turn their lights on at the same time every night when it gets dark. Plus you have time difference it is not like we all do it at the same time, but if you are still worried get your flash ready and some candles.

Answer 6

We're supposed to turn off our lights??   Who says?

OK I will do it at noon.  On a sunny day.

Answer 7

Electricity doesn't really work that way, to my knowledge.  But we might blow up the grid if we all turn our lights back on at the same moment.

Answer 8

maybe, didn't even think of that

Answer 9

Of course it can. It's not the entire world, it's only 26 cities. And, of course, it's not a blackout. People are just shutting their lights off, not cutting off all sources of electricity.

I don't think it's a really good idea though. I mean, the whole point is to "raise awareness". Not really gonna happen. And, think about it, not everyone watches the news. How many people are gonna be outside, and all of a sudden they're shrouded in complete darkness...